Ryan Murphy and Sarah Paulson are together again, with Netflix ordering a series that will explore the origins of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest character Nurse Ratched.
Netflix has given the series a two-season, 18 episode commitment. It begins in 1947 and will track Ratched as she morphs from an average nurse into the monstrous authority figure she became in the novel and subsequent film. Paulson will star as the infamous nurse, with Murphy attached as executive producer.
This is the latest collaboration between Paulson and Murphy. Paulson has appeared in every season of Murphy’s FX anthology series American Horror Story and American Crime Story: People v. OJ Simpson. Paulson has been nominated for five Emmys for her work with Murphy, winning one last year for “Crime Story.”
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was originally a novel written by Ken Kesey that was published in 1962. It was subsequently adapted into the 1975 film of the same name, which was produced by Douglas and Saul Zaentz. Louise Fletcher played Ratched.